Prof. Terry Hwa (UCSD) will present “Quantitative biology: frontier at the interface of the physical and life sciences”
Opportunities at the interface of the quantitative and life sciences are illustrated by several examples encountered during the course of my personal exploration as a theoretical physicist. One is at the molecular scale, where a maximum entropy principle turns variations in the sequence composition of related proteins into a procedure to inform the prediction of protein structures and protein-protein interactions. A second example is at the cellular level, where the growth and gene expression of bacteria are shown to obey simple phenomenological laws. A third example is at the population level, where dynamic mechanisms drive spatiotemporal patterns in expanding cell population and tissue.
Tea will be served at 3:30 pm in the 3rd floor lounge in Sloane Physics Laboratory (217 Prospect St., the building in which the seminar will also take place).